4.19.2009

a walk in the woods

A walk in the woods this time of year doesn't seem like it would be all that exciting. It's only just starting to warm up and the woods are still very brown and gray. But, if you look very carefully and at ground level, there's lots to see.

Spring Beauty (Claytonia virginica) is one of the earliest flowers to appear and it's really tiny so it takes a sharp eye to spot it.

The Trout Lily (Erythronium americanum) has spotted leaves that are said to resemble the spots of a brown trout.

Partridgeberry (Mitchella repens) is also called Squaw-vine because Native-American women used it to treat irregular and painful menses and for pain during childbirth. I thought at first that this might be wintergreen but you can smell that by crushing the berries. These had no smell.

This Nodding Trillium (Trillium cernuum) isn't blooming yet but I thought the flower bud was kind of cool-looking. I'll check next week to see if they've opened.

9 comments:

What a great day you must have had with spotting all these beauties. TY for sharing them, I'd not seen these before. We used to go walking thru the woods all the time as children in WA ST spotting all the wonders it holds. Very peaceful & relaxing place to be. Have a great week. TTFN ~ MarydonPS Pop over take a peek at my flowers.

gorgeous photos! I love forest flowers. There are a lot of hiking trails near me but there is one that I particularly love. It's on the back side of the lake, up on a rocky rise...and full of flowers! I think it remains pristine year after year because it's farther than most of the kids like to hike (to get to the water). Trillium are one of my all-time faves :)

Great photos....very professional and I love the little comments on each one. I learned a lot actually. I can't believe you found ALL of those while walking in the woods...how amazing...and what a fabulous little tutorial you gave on each. I really enjoyed it and look forward to more.

About those bears. I didn't mention this in my post but we think we found out where they spent the winter. They don't always den in caves; sometimes they crawl under piles of brush. They did some logging a couple of years ago on the property right above ours and we found huge brush piles, like, large enough for whole families of bears. I'm guessing that's where they were all winter.